Computer terminals are often mounted on vehicles in warehouses, manufacturing facilities, and other workplaces to collect and display data. For example, vehicle mount computers are commonly found on forklift trucks and other utility vehicles. Vehicle mount computers generally include one or more user interfaces, such as a touch screen display and a keyboard or keypad. Many vehicle mount computers also include a wireless radio for communicating with a remote device, such as another computer or server.
Vehicle mount computers are typically connected to the vehicle's battery to receive supply power. Conventional vehicle mount computers include a power switch or button that an operator can manipulate to turn the vehicle mount computer on and off. Often times, operators leave the vehicle without turning the computer off. For example, an operator may shut down the vehicle at the end of the day, but forget to turn off the vehicle mount computer. This can drain the battery and render the vehicle unusable for the next operator or the next work shift. Furthermore, operators often forget to log out of vehicle mount computers at the conclusion of their work shift. This can allow unauthorized users access to the vehicle mount computer and possibly to a network that the vehicle mount computer is connected to. In addition, the vehicle mount computer's operating system may require an operator to log in again after a certain amount of idle time. This can prevent other operators from logging into the locked computer until an administrator can unlock the computer.
Some organizations' computer administrators prefer that the computers they are responsible for are placed into a certain state when the computer is not in use. For example, a computer administrator may request that users log off of their computers so that updates to applications and network security can be performed. However, many computer users fail to abide by these preferences causing a nuisance to the administrators.